Designation of Wonder Woman as UN’s ambassador causes polemic

Last Friday, the United Nations made a ceremony in its New York headquarters and appointed Diana Prince, best known as Wonder Woman, to be the honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls due to the 75th anniversary of the comic.

The campaign and alliance between the U.N., Warner Bros, and D.C Comics is expected to last a year. The campaign is part of the Sustainable Development Goals, the subsequent of the Millennium Goals, whose 5th point is to achieve gender equality by 2030. The U.N. chose this character thanks to her values, the empowerment she represents, and her fight against injustice.

Wonder Woman. Image credit: D.C. Comics.

During the year in which the character will be the picture of gender-equality, Warner Bros and D.C Comics will be in charge of releasing pictures promoting the women and girl empowerment with the hashtag #WithWonderWoman.

Among those attending the ceremony are Lynda Carter, who made the most iconic representation of the character so far in the TV show of the 70’s, Gal Gadot, the actress who will role play the movie about Wonder Woman and Diane Nelson, the president of D.C Entertainment.

According to the U.N., the campaign has five key areas such as: “speaking out against discrimination and limitation on women and girls, joining forces with others against gender-based violence and abuse, supporting full and effective participation and equal opportunity for women and girls in leadership in all spheres of life, ensuring all women and girls have access to quality learning and sharing examples of real life women and girls who are making a difference every day.”

Sustainable Development Goals

After the deadline of the Millennium Goals in 2015, the U.N. through its General Assembly, along with the collaboration of the 193 country members, decided a new list of goals post 2015, which are called Sustainable Development Goals.

The new agenda was adopted on September 25, 2015, during the 70th anniversary of the organization. There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals such as reducing poverty, climate action, and equality education. The SDGs were triggered on the basis of the past Millennium Goals.

Each country member is compromised to accomplish these goals. They also have to give populations the tools to achieve them and must implement them in their internal affairs through the public policies and send a periodical report of the advances.

The key SDG of this campaign is gender equality. Its primary purpose is to reach equality in each area where women are in disadvantages such as labor, education, participation in politics, and health care access.

The polemic after the appointment of Wonder Women

While the event was celebrated, around 50 U.N. employees were protesting at the entrance of the headquarters because they thought Wonder Woman did not represent women empowerment. They also said it was disappointing to have an unreal and sexist character when real women are fighting for gender equality.

Some critics have stated that designating Wonder Woman as an Ambassador may give wrong values to the girls considering her superficial look. Others argue she does not give a real example of empowerment since she is a fiction character.

Wonder Woman and Super Man. Image credit: D.C. Comics.

Some workers at the organization united and made an online request to the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, to remove and change Wonder Woman for another honorary Ambassador. The request has more than 1,000 signs but the U.N. does not seem to take off the character of the campaign.

Wonder Woman as an empowerment icon

William Moulton Marston is the psychologist who created Wonder Woman. He wanted a new kind of superhero and a in particular woman to represent feminism. Wonder Woman made her first debut in comics in December 1941.

With the past of the years, D.C. Comics has created several universes where some characteristics of the superhero change. One of the most polemical was the “Seduction of the Innocent” in which Wonder Woman becomes a lesbian.

Wonder Woman is actually an icon for the LGBTI community. In fact, when the U.S legalized same-sex marriage in the 50 states in 2016, the character was one of the main icons to represent this new era.

During the 70’s the fame of Wonder Woman raised and had its golden age because of its TV show, and until now it has been the most appreciable moment to portray the character.

In 2017 comes the first solo film of the character in which the actress Gal Gadot will interpret Wonder Woman.